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10 Minute Seafood Salad

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updated: 10/21/25

4.89 from 51 votes
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy

This Seafood Salad recipe only takes about 10 minutes to throw together and is so much better than what you buy at the grocery store.

side view of a seafood salad garnished with fresh dill in a blue ceramic bowl

Seafood Salad is one of my weaknesses. You will note, that as a food blogger and generally weird person, I have odd weaknesses. Croutons, Spicy V8, and pickles are also on the list.

While it is so simple to buy seafood salad from the grocery store deli, I would urge you to make your own instead. It is so incredibly easy and a recipe that you will fall in love with.

the ingredients for seafood salad separated by ingredient in a glass bowl, garnished with fresh dill

Seafood Salad Ingredients

  • Imitation Crab Meat: The base of this salad, imitation crab meat is a delicious and affordable ingredient made from cod. Though you could definitely replace it with lump crab meat.
  • Salad Shrimp: I love buying frozen salad shrimp for this recipe because it is small, tastes fresh, and is always easy to find.
  • Red Onion and Celery: These veggies bring a great crunch to the salad. If you don’t like celery you could certainly replace it with red bell pepper or English cucumber, removing the seeds to eliminate extra moisture.
  • Mayonnaise: This makes the great dressing for the salad. I like to use light mayonnaise in this recipe to reduce fat.
  • Lemon Juice: Fresh is always best when it comes to lemon juice, though you could centennially use bottled in a pinch.
  • Old Bay Seasoning, Dill, Salt & Pepper
  • Salt & Pepper
croissant sandwich with seafood salad on it, garnished with fresh dill, tomatoes in the background

Make Ahead

This is a great make-ahead dish. It can be made up to 24 hours in advance. I actually love the recipe more after it has chilled in the refrigerator for a few hours.

Leftovers

This recipe will keep in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days when stored in an airtight container. I do not recommend freezing this recipe.

Serving Seafood Salad

I think that seafood salad is great on it’s own. But it is also delicious eaten on a croissant or a bun as a seafood salad sandwich. You could also serve it in lettuce or endive cups as an appetizer.

seafood salad in a lettuce cup garnished with fresh dill

If you make this seafood salad recipe or any of my other recipes, leave me a comment and let me know what you think! I love hearing from you.

Recipe Video

side view of a seafood salad garnished with fresh dill in a blue ceramic bowl
4.89 from 51 votes

Seafood Salad

Author: Lisa Longley
Serves: 8 servings
(tap # to scale)
Prep: 10 minutes
Total: 10 minutes
This Seafood Salad recipe only takes about 10 minutes to throw together and is so much better than what you buy at the grocery store.

Ingredients

  • 8 ounces imitation crab meat
  • 12 ounces salad shrimp thawed
  • 1/2 small red onion diced small
  • 2 stalks celery diced
  • 3/4 cup mayonnaise (I used light)
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 2 teaspoons Old Bay Seasoning
  • 1/2 tablespoon fresh dill or 1/2 teasoon dry dill
  • 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt if using table salt, start with half)
  • black pepper to taste

Instructions

  • In a large bowl, combine the crab meat (broken up), shrimp, red onion, and celery.
  • In a small bowl whisk together the mayonnaise, lemon juice, Old Bay Seasoning, fresh dill, and salt. Taste and add salt and pepper to taste.
  • Stir the dressing into the main ingredients and serve. This recipe can be stored in the refrigerator for up to four days in an air tight container.

Notes

I have had a few people mention this is too salty. I think it is perfect as written, but tastes absolutely vary. You might want to leave out the salt and then add a little at a time to the sauce until you hit a taste you like.
Serving: 0.5cup Calories: 108kcal (5%) Carbohydrates: 7g (2%) Protein: 7g (14%) Fat: 7g (11%) Saturated Fat: 1g (6%) Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g Monounsaturated Fat: 2g Cholesterol: 54mg (18%) Sodium: 660mg (29%) Potassium: 32mg (1%) Sugar: 1g (1%)
Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: American
side view of a seafood salad garnished with fresh dill in a blue ceramic bowl

did you make this

Seafood Salad

I’d love to see what you made! Tag me @lisasimplejoy and hashtag it #simplejoyrecipes!

Hi! I'm Lisa Longley, and I am committed to giving you simple dinner ideas and recipes that are easy to make; recipes that will fill your home with joy. I am the owner and author of SimpleJoy.com and I'm so glad that you are here.

Reader Interactions

    4.89 from 51 votes (25 ratings without comment)

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    Have a question? Use the form below to submit your question or comment. I love hearing from you & seeing what you made!

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  1. Joyce Maggitti says

    5 stars
    Looks and sounds delicious, going to make this week.

    • Lisa Longley says

      I hope you love it Joyce!

  2. Sandra says

    Lisa, do you have a recipe for Old Bay Seasoning? We are in Canada and I have not found this in our grocery store.

    • Lisa Longley says

      Hi Sandra! Since you left this comment, I’ve developed an Old Bay Seasoning recipe. You can find it here: Old Bay Seasoning

  3. Bob says

    Costco

    • Lisa Longley says

      Perfect place to pick up the ingredients for this :)

  4. Karen Howard says

    5 stars
    Love this recipe & I stuffed a tomato w/ it. Why not ? We stuff them w/ Tuna. You can add Pasta Shells, Elbow or other Pasta to this too to stretch it further & use as a One Bowl Meal or as a Side Dish w/ Fish Tacos/Any Kind of Kabobs or Other Fish or Meat. My preferance is to leave out the Bay Seasoning & Dill though & add Green Onions , Chives or Fresh Thyme instead.😋

    • Linda Woodhead says

      Oh, I make this all the time and it’s just me. I will sit with a bowl of it and dip my club crackers in it for tv snacks

  5. Rebecca says

    5 stars
    I tried this recipe and it was delicious! My family loved it! The only thing was I couldn’t find fresh dill so I used dried dill. I will be making it again! I wish that I could upload a picture of mine.

    • Lisa Longley says

      I love the idea of you sharing a photo Rebecca! We are in the middle of a redesign and maybe we can work that into it somehow. In the meantime, you can email it to me! lisa@wineandglue.com

  6. julieta says

    5 stars
    deliciosa!!! muchas gracias por las explicaciones fueron muy oportunas! Saudos

  7. Kylette Williams says

    5 stars
    Best seafood salad recipe I have tried! Served it on a croissant with avocado, lettuce and tomato. So good!

    • Lisa Longley says

      I’m so happy you liked it!

  8. Kim Bechtel says

    I did not see note about real crab,did you mean to use fresh & dry dill both?

    • Lisa Longley says

      Hi Kim! The note about the crab is in the post. If you click on the highlighted part it will take you to it. You can use fresh dill or dry, but I don’t recommend using both.

  9. DiAnne M. Wood says

    I really like the way you list headings of “how long this lasts” and “how to serve.”

    This whole page was so easy to read, not just the recipe, but the information you provided. You have perfected posting a recipe…all the facts, your opinion in separate area, and extra info that people need in neatly arranged, easy-to-find ways.

    Now, I just need to make this tonight and serve on toasted Brioche buns. Thank you! (I’ll come back and rate the recipe later.)

    • Lisa Longley says

      I hope you enjoyed it DiAnne!

  10. Jackie says

    5 stars
    Well, I hit the jackpot today. Got the recipe for Seafood Salad, & for Old Bay Seasoning AND Ham Salad. Can’t wait to try them all. Thanks Lisa.

    • Lisa Longley says

      I hope you love them all!

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